From December 7, 2021 the Retroavangarda Gallery in Warsaw has had the honour to present the works of prof. Wiesław Szamborski, an artist whose impressive output has already entered the history of art for good. His paintings are exhibited in the most important Polish museums and in world collections. The cross-sectional painting exhibition at the Retrovangarda Gallery includes works from various decades, years and themes typical for the artist: landscapes, flowers, people in everyday situations. The usual subjects were painted in an unusual way. With the help of vivid, bright colours, the artist brings out the light. There is irony and humour under the pretext of trivial topics and everyday scenes. This characteristic defiance proves the artist’s careful observation and distance to the surrounding reality.
The defiance and non-compliance also decided about the choice of a creative path. In the 1960s and 1970s, when the majority of Polish artists was heading towards abstraction in the pursuit of modernity, Wiesław Szamborski devoted himself to figurative painting, developing his own, original style belonging to the so-called new figuration. Along with other artists of that generation, he was critical of socialist realism and the reality of the Polish People’s Republic. Today, this penetrating, ironic look at the surrounding world is still present in his painting. Particularly noteworthy is also the wonderful workshop perfected over the years.
Professor Wiesław Szamborski has been associated with the Academy of Fine Arts for many years as a teacher and head of the painting and drawing department. Since 2012 he has also been associated with the Warsaw School of Information Technology (WIT), the main organizer of this exhibition.
Dr. Anna Kłos
exhibition curator
Wiesław Szamborski born on May 6, 1941 in Skarżysko Kamienna, where he graduated from general secondary school. In the years 1959–60 he studied at Main School of Planning and Statistics (now SGH SGH Warsaw School of Economics) at the Faculty of Economics of Production. In 1960, he began studies at the Faculty of Painting and Graphics at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. He received a diploma with honors in 1966 in the studio of professor Michał Bylina. In 1960-67 he lived in the Dziekanka dormitory, 1967-76 in a studio in Białostocka, and from 1976 in Aleja Solidarności.
From October 1968 an assistant, and from 1971 a senior assistant in the painting and drawing studio of professor M. Bylina. From 1974 he ran the drawing studio as an assistant professor, and from 1982 as an associate professor. From 1990 – associate professor. From 1991. he ran a painting studio for 2nd-5th year students. From March 1996, full professor. Vice-dean of the painting department in 1987-88. Head of the painting and drawing department from 1990 until retirement. Scholarship holder of the Italian government (1978) and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (1988). In the 1980s, he was an active participant in the independent culture movement. Since 1983, he has been traveling around Poland and Europe every year. Since 2012, he has been associated with the School of Information Technology and Management in Warsaw. He took part in about 400 group exhibitions and 52 individual exhibitions in Poland and abroad. Until 1972, he exhibited with M. Sapetto.
Profesor SzamborskisWorks in the collections of: National Museums in Gdańsk, Kraków, Kielce, Poznań, Szczecin, Warsaw, Wrocław; The Art Museum in Łódź; District Museums in Bydgoszcz, Olsztyn, Chełm, Białystok, Lublin, Radom, Słupsk, Toruń, Tomaszów Mazowiecki; The Archdiocese Museum in Warsaw, the Pauline Fathers at Jasna Góra, the Studio Art Center, the Zachęta State Art Gallery, the Ministry of Culture and Art; BWA in Radom, Rzeszów, Zamość, Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Płock, Olsztyn, Warsaw; The Museum of Independence in Warsaw and Poznań, city authorities in Warsaw, Łódź and Lublin; Historical Museum of the Capital City of Warsaw; Museum of Literature in Warsaw; State Museum at Majdanek and other public and private at home and abroad (Sweden, Germany, France, USA, Canada, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Great Britain, Japan).
Selected individual exhibitions after 2000:
2001 Warsaw, Contemporary Art Gallery “Zapiecek”
2003 Lodz, AZ Gallery (gallery inauguration)
2003 Warsaw, Studio Gallery, Studio Art Center
2004 Warsaw, Zachęta National Gallery of Art
2005 Poznań, New Gallery in Poznań
2005 Leszno, Gallery in the Town Hall and MBWA Gallery
2006 Poznań, Poznań Galeria Nowa and the City Gallery “Arsenal”
2006 Opole, Contemporary Art Gallery
2007 Warsaw, XX1 Gallery
2011 Warsaw, Salon Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts
2011 Warsaw, Traffic Club (House of Jabkowski Brothers)
2011/2012 Warsaw, RAL 9010 Gallery
2012 Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, Bureau of Art Exhibitions
2012 Berlin, Haus Kunst-Mitte
2014 Warsaw, Gallery -1 of the Polish Olympic Committee
2015/2016 Jabłonna, Gallery of Contemporary Art, Polish Academy of Sciences
2016 Warsaw, Opera Gallery, Teatr Wielki National Opera
2020 Warsaw, Delfiny Gallery
Wiesław Szamborski – Painting
Curator: Anna Kłos
7.12.2021 – 7.01.2022
Retroavangarda Gallery at Jerozolimskie Business Park
Aleje Jerozolimskie 146D, 02-305 Warsaw
Gallery opening times: Tuesday – Friday 11 AM – 5 PM
Organizers: Retroavangarda, WIT– Szkoła Wyższa pod auspicjami PAN, Apollo Rida
www: retroavangarda.com
e-mail: retroavangarda.com@gmail.com
photo – Tomasz Kłos
text by Anna Kłos, translation by Karolina Kłos